kimpossiblefandomcom-20200223-history
Ron Stoppable
Ronald "Ron" Stoppable is a fictional character from the disney animated series Kim Possible. His first and last name is a take on "Unstoppable", and is voiced by actor Will Friedle. He debuted in the series opening episode in June 2002, starred in all 65 episodes os Season 1-3, and made his Season 4 debut in an episode initially broadcast exclusively over the Disney Channel website in February 2007, and returned to Disney Channel on February 10. Ron is a high school student with an eccentric personality who serves as a "bumbling sidekick" to the show's titular protagonist Kim Possible. He was Kim's best friend from Season 1-3 and eventually progressed to the level of boyfriend during the Season 3 finale. He provides much of the franchise's comic relief, but also serves as an anchor to Kim's competitive/image consious personality. Ron appears in most of the video games based on the show, but is playable in only two: Team Possible and Global Gemini. History Ron is an only natural child from an observant Jewish family. He met Kim during their first day at pre-school and they have been firm friends ever since. In the TV movie "A Sitch in Time", Ron is depicted as having been an articulate, observant child able to comprehend concepts too complex for the average child of his age, as having an imaginary named "Rufus", and as having a strong social conscience but also under developed social skills which set him apart from other children. As a teenager, he has a pet naked mole rat named Rufus and has slept with a night light since the age of four. Many aspects of Ron's current personality can be traced back to various traumatic events from his childhood that have been shown in a variety of flashbacks throughout seasons 1-3. The event which is referenced most often in the series was a summer that he spent in a rundown sleep away Camp Wannaweep during which time he called home so many times, asking to leave the camp, that his mother eventually refused to accept his calls. While at Wannaweep, Ron was bullied by other campers and forced to share an insect infested cabin with the camp's overactive chimpanzee mascot "Bobo". This led him to develop a pathological fear of monkeys and apes that has been frequently mentioned throughout the series, as well as a less-mentioned fear of insects and spiders. It was also during this summer at Wannaweep that Ron first encountered fellow camper Gil Moss, with whom he traded his slot on the swim schedule for a second slot in arts and crafts. Gil later returned as Gill, a villain seeking revenge on Ron, whom he blamed for causing him to mutate(a result of spending all day swimming in the lake's polluted water. During Season 2, it was revealed that Ron was first introduced to the freelance hero business when reclusive Upperton millionaire Mr. Paisley became trapped in his own vault. His associate, Mr. McHenry, attempted to contact "Team Impossible", a group of heroes for hire, but accidentally contacted Kim Possible instead. Based on the period in which Kim wore braces, this event was some 2 years prior to the start of Season 1. Ron's feeling for Kim have been addressed several times during seasons 1-3, most notably when Kim came under the influence of a mood atering device that caused her to persue him romantically, and were finally resolved during the last installment of the Season 3 finale(originally intended to be the final episode of the franchise). As of Season 4, he and Kim are officially a couple. Senior year also sees Ron join the high school football team as its star running back, using the running and dodging skills he honed as Kim's sidekick. It is speculated from the episode Big Bother that Ron is 18 years oldbut that is not confirmed. Ron's status as an only child ended during Season 4, when his parent adopted a new baby girl named Hana. t first, the change angered Ron, calling Hana an "intruder" and evil. Eventually, e starts enjoying her company and learns to be a big brother. In Graduation, Ron finally stepped up and became the heroby single-handedly saving the world. After Kim, Shego and Drakken were defeated Ron was the only one left and unsure of what to do. Senei appeared to him to tell him to use his Mystical Monkey Power and that he was the Monkey Master and that this was his destiny. This combined with the danger that Kim was in gave him the cinfidence that he needed and in an incredible show of power he single-handedly takes on Warhok and Warmonga and apparently destroys them. In several episodes including Monkey Ninjas in Space and Mad Dogs and Aliens, a prophecy made from what originally appeared to be two seperate individuals a.k.a. the Ultimate Monkey Master and the Great Blue appear to state that someone beyond the stars leading to glory. This appears to refer to Ron as both the Ultimate Monkey Master and the Great Blue. The debate about the identity of the Great Blue originally focused on Zorpox(ability to take over the world, went beyond the stars, Mystical Monkey Ninja Powers), however the episode Graduation where Ron's skin turned blue from the power of the aura(Exchange and like Team Go's Hego) seems to indicate that Ron is in fact the Great Blue who appears to lead Earth to glory rather than the Lorwardians. Personality Personality-wise, Ron is the polar opposite of Kim. Like Shego, he displays a lack of ambition and a propencity for sarcasme towards villians, like Drakken. He reacts fifferently in almost every situation, excels at things that she has dificulties with(and vice versa), and sees the world in a different way. He is probably also the most diverse character in the franchise, and is the character who has displayed the most contradictions/contrasts in terms of personality and capability throughout the franchise. For most of the franchise, Ron's character consists of three primary teen comedy/drama stereotypes: * A "type B personality" friend to an type A character * A "bumbling sidekick" * A "high school underdog". Type B Personality. As a type B, Ron is primarily cheerful and unbeat, is highly resistant to most forms of peer pressure, and is largely unconcerned with appearance and fads, which he conciders shallow and transitory. Because of this, Ron frequently serves as a counterbalance to Kim's Type A personality , often encouraging her to take a step back in episodes where her competitive nature goes into overdrive, and helping her to get things in perspective when she frets over "teen issues" such as the "food chain" and how others think of her. Kim herself often performs a similar function for Ron by motivating him, encouraging him to participate in some areas, and attempting to dampen down his enthusiasm in others. Ron's personality is defined by ego but not in such an obvious way as type A Kim. He tends to become fixated with ideas, objects and concepts that cannot be dislodged from his mind, even after they have proven to be flawed. During early episodes this usually took the form of Ron disagreeing with Kim over the intensions of a villain: for example, believing that Drakken wanted to "steal Christmas", or that Señor Senior, Sr. intended to create a global shortage of miniature corn dogs, and primarily served as dialoge during "covert entry" scenes. However, as Ron's personality developed within the franchise, this tendency became more pronounced. It was most evident in later episodes such as Mad Dogs and Aliens and Grand Size Me. In the former, Ron obssesses over the fact that Jim and Tim have replaced him as team mascot. He doesn't think they could live up to his legacy and takes it too personally , to the point where he tries to become their coach. In the latter, Ron refuses to believe that eating junk food can cause health and fitness problems. He tries to disprove it by eating nothing but Bueno Nacho meals(a play on the real world documentory "Super Size Me"). As a result, when his clothes start becoming tight he attributes it to shrinkage in the laundry and he attributes his shortness of breath to lack of clean air. However when he grows in height he says it's the diet he's on, not realizing that his falling into Henchco's Titan vat was the reason. Ron has on occasion expressed his usually hidden arrogance, which typically results from a bout of self confidence combined with his tendency to go over board with things. Kim once commented that Ron is "prone to big-headiness". The statement came as a result of the sudden ego boost Ron received from learning that Global Justice wished to study him over Kim because they believed that he was the reason for Team Possible's success. Ron has also displayed a considerable bouts of jealousy throughout the show, especially when he feels that he does not have Kim's undivided attention. However, this jealousy only surfaces when Kim pays attention to others over him. He has never expressed envy over her abilities, instead offering her encouragement in the field and showing her to be a loyal friend/boyfriend. Another effect of this personality type is that Ron tends to doubt himself more often than not, making himself subservient to Kim. It is highly probable that his behavior patterns have been influenced by Kim's overbearing and hypercompetitive Type A tendencies, causing him to back down as a trained response because he knows that kim does not like to lose. Because he values Kim more than everything, Ron is willing to sacrifice anything for her, including his own potential for greatness. All of his self-imposed restrictions are lost, however, when Ron becomes his alter ego, Zorpox. Because he is evil, Zorpox does not care about hurting Kim's feelings and therefore has no problem unleashing his full potential. The first time he was transformed, Zorpox was able to convert his tricycle into plasma catapult, as well as create not one, but two doomsday devices in only a few hours. In Stop Team Go, he demonstrated that Ron was a much more capable fighter than he normally appears, incapacitating a swarm of about thirty Wegos in under ten seconds. Bumbling sidekick. As a "bumbling sidekick", Ron is typically portrayed as being extremely loyal but also clumsy and lacking in bravery. He tends to "trip over his own feet" in most episodes, often in comical or socially embarrassing ways, and during missions it is common for him to comically fail to do something that Kim has done flawlessly, for example, he might ski backwards down a mountain and collide with a tree just after Kim has successfully has negotiated the slope. He also loses his pants often on missions. A running gag in the series is that Ron rarely receives any recognition for his actions helping Kim, and other characters have a hard time remembering his name, even if they've met him multiple times, Dr. Drakken has referred to him as "that guy" and "the boy who's always losing his pants". The only villian to consistently remember Ron's name is his arch-enemy, Monkey Fist. Ron's clumsiness was very pronounced in early episodes, often resulting in him endangering himself or the mission, and forcing Kim to stop whatever she was currently doing to save him. However, as the series has progressed his skills have become more proficient and he has required rescuing less frequently. In later episodes, much of his clumsiness primarily serves as comic relief and is portrayed as awkwardness rather than incompitence, he is often shown performing feats of physical skill and dexterity alongside Kim, albeit in an awkward and slightly panicked manner in contrast to Kim's usually graceful and deliberate performance. The show's creators have stated that Ron's performance during action sequences was originally supposed to be based on Jackie Chan, performing physical feats in an uncertain and improvised, but ultimately effective, manner. Although Ron's clumsiness has caused problems(for example, allowing villains to escape) it also often works in his favor, allowing him to accomplish thing through clumsiness that neither he nor Kim could accomplish through pure skill. According to Wade, this may be a quantifiable ability that Ron possesses, though the in-universe international espionage organization Global Justice has investigated this possibility and ruled it false. Annother long-running trait of Ron's is his list of phobias. His fear of monkeys is frequently mentioned, and he has also shown to be pathologically fearful of insects, mechanical horses(triggered by an accident with a coin-operated horse ride in which he lost 2 baby teeth), garden gnomes(triggered by a gnome-related tricycle accident), and many other things. Often, episodes show him panicking on missions when confronted by anything threatening or dangerous. He also had a tendency to be paranoid in some cases, an end result of his childhood phobias and bad experiences. Despite his fears, Ron usually manages to come through in the end. Kim's cousin Joss remarks that Ron's actions in loyally following Kim into danger despite being afraid of practically everything is a mark of true bravery. It is one of the show's most well known running gags for Ron to lose his pants or even get unwittingly stripped down to his boxer shorts in some comical way. In Season 2, he states that this has happened so often that he is no longer embarrased by it. However, in Season 4, he admits that he is still perturbed by the fact that this still continues to happen even when he is a high school senior. Later that same Season(in the episode "Clean Slate"), Kim gives Ron a titanium-enforced belt as a "half-iversary" present(it has been six months since they started dating) to help with "the pants thing" as it came to be known, later in that episode, Ron took the belt off and accidentally dropped his pants yet again, which triggered in Kim a flashback of virtually all the times Ron lost his pants, which ironically finished healing the amnesia Kim had for most of the episode. In the video game Kim Possible 3: Team Possible, Ron loses his pants as an idle animation. High School Underdog. Alongside his general clumsiness, Ron does not excel in school and often appears to have dificulty grasping simple facts or concepts, even if they are spelled out to him, either because he has a limited understanding of the topic or the way in which it is discussed, or because he is not paying attention(due to the nature of Ron's role within the series, it is not always clear when this is part of his permanent personality, and when this is intended purely as comic relief). Ron's problems are accentuated by his overall lack of focus, and by a tendency towards a laziness which, at its most extreme, included expecting his lab partner to do all of the work on the grounds that their natural motivation to succeed would compel them to pick up his slack. Ironically, while it is a common gag for Ron to fail to understand everyday words or euphemisms(such as the phrase "fraternal twins"), Ron demonstrates a slightly more advanced vocabulary than other characters on the franchise, often using longer words than a person of his age might otherwise use, and maintaining a more controlled style of speech throughout the series as well as reflecting complex and unusual lines of thought that slip other character's attention, including comments on Kim's own statements and behavior. However, such observations by Ron only serve to further give other characters the impression that he is odd and weird. These characteristics were particulary evident when Ron was younger, in later episodes, they are less prevalent, but still reasonably frequent. Ron also has a tendency to hold onto childhood habits and customs, often stubbornly refusing to change despite the negative reactions of others. For example, he goes out trick-or-treating at a time when most people of his age would have long ceased. In the Season 4 episode Grand Size Me, he does not appreciate that eating nothing but Bueno Nacho food would cause him to decline in health and physique. In The Big Job, when Monique hints that he should have a job, he doesn't understand even when Monique tells him that he'd have "mad money". As is common for a fictional underdog, Ron has a tendency to have low expactations of his performance and to set low standards for himself, both academically and soicially. He lacks focus and often appears fare poorly due to either a lack of effort and a lack of belief in his own abilities or through trying too hard and coming across as a clown. His efforts to fit in are often hampered by the fact that he is moderately hyperactive and has a tendency to act with a pronounced level of immaturity, which has earned him a reputation as a loser among his peers. However, for the most part, Ron's type B personality means that he either does not notice this, and thus tends to embarrass those around him more than himself, or that he passes his quirks off as part of his intrinsic "Ronness" and ignores what others think. This was most evident when he was first introduced in the pilot episode "Crush", when he declared his motto to be "Never be normal!". Though Ron appears to become accustomed to the idea that others see him as being uncool, and usually shrugs it off, he has been known to seek acceptance from peers on several occasions(usually in an attempt to be noticed by girls), with varying levels of success. Two notable occasions were when he attempted to reinvent himself during a Spring Break trip to Florida and when he tried out for school mascot the "Middleton Mad dog". In the case of the former, Ron was branded a loser within a day of arriving. In the case of the latter, Ron won the crowd's acceptance, but managed to upset the entire cheer squad in the process. On the occasions that Ron has achieved a level of acceptance from his peers, he usually revels in it, and sometimes allows it to go to his head. Physical Description Gender: Male Age: 15(Season 1) 18(Season 4) Height: 1 KHU, approximately 5'5"(160 cm)(estimated, Ron is shorter than Kim on the model sheets, but Kim's hair stands up several inches) Weight: 120 lbs (55 kg)(estimated) Built: Thin, mildly pudgy Hair: Blond, short, perpetually mussed Eyes: Brown Skin: Fair, freckled Ethnic Extraction: Caucasian-American, Jewish, unknown European stock Family Ron's father is an actuary, his mother is Mrs. Stoppable. He has two paternal cousin, named Shawn Stoppable and Reuben Stoppable. Rufus can be considered part of his family. He now has a new adopted baby sister named Hana Stoppable. Relationships An outcast by no choice of his own, Ron has few close friends. Kim Possible has been his best friend for a long time, and is his girlfriend as of their Junior Prom. Rufus is his pet, but also one of his closest friends and confidants. Talents and Skills Despite usually being portrayed as being awkward, childish, distracted, and an underachiever, Ron's character has been shown to have hidden depths and abilities which the franchise occasionally explored as plot devices or McGuffins. Amon Ron's hidden talents are demonstrable creative and intellectual streaks. He wrote the song that Kim sung at the school talent contest and the Naked Mole Rap, is a talented cook, and enjoys success in many craft-related activities(including constructing his own custom made Mad Dog head). He also often makes profound observations on life, society and all kinds of logic s that belie hid normal portrayal as having an "uncomplicated mind", and he displayed all qualities needed to be rapidly promoted to a management position during his short-lived career at the middleton Bueno Nacho. He also has a lot of other talents, as seen in the talent show. Although this might not count as a skill, he did invent the Naco. In addition to these talents, Ron sometimes undergoes periods of extreme focus or clarity, during which time his personality, skill and abilities undergo dramatic changes that allow him to perform feats that he is not usually depicted as being capable of performing. Most of this changes are in linewith his role as a hero "who always comes through when the chips are down". They include: Bravery. During "Sink or Swim" and "Return to Wannaweep", Ron was able to overcome his fears in order to take on the villain Gill single-handedly. In Exchange Ron overcame his sense of self doubt, and his fear of monkeys, in order to rescue Yori from Monkey Fist. In Graduation, upon seeing Kim in mortal danger, as well as getting a pep talk from sensei, Ron taps into the full extent of his Mystical Monkey Powers and takes on both Warhok and Warmonga all by himself and destroys them in an amazing display of sheer bravery and heroism. Agility and Sports. During Sick Day Ron was able to master several different extreme sport related skills that he had previously been unable to master, in order to infiltrate Drakken's lair and escape with Ray X(suffering only a single trademark pants-related incident). In "The Twin Factor" Ron successfully evaded both Shego and a mind controlled Kim, even maneuvering himself so that the pair would cut his bonds, and in "Exchange" he defeated experienced Yamanouchi ninja Fukushima in single combat. In Ill Suited, Ron tried out for the Middleton High Football Team and it was discovered that this so-called "mad running away skills" made him a natural running back. In fact, he earned Middleton High's all-time rushing record(running the entire opposing team into exhaustion after just one play), which has actually earned him the nickname "Unstoppable". In "Big Bother", Ron protects his baby sister Hana by quickly dispatching a couple dozen of Monkey Fist's monkey ninjas, displaying impressive martial arts skills in the process, and manages to hold his own against Monkey Fist himself. In "Stop Team Go", while evil, Ron has shown amazing talent and skill while fighting an army of Wegos and quickly dispatching of them. Communication with animals. Ron has also demonstrated an uncanny ability to actually converse with and understand animals. Most often, this is seen in his interactions with Rufus, although it could be argued that Rufus is already, albeit unusually, communucative with others as well. He has, however, also shown that he can communicate very well with other animals: Chippy, Roachie, and Professor Dementor's giant dogs, to name a few. Flashes of inspiration/brilliance. In Sink or Swim, Ron used misdirection to lure Gill into a trap. In Sick Day, he successfully charted a way into Drakken's lair that enabled him to avoid detection, and in Bad Boy, he showed a high level of forethought in his world domination plans and technical/machanical talent. In Naked Genius he was able to successfully build a "doomsday device" out of junk parts despite in the process of doing so being extremely insecure of himself and terrified by Drakken's threats. Perhaps the most pronounced of the changes/contrasts displayed by Ron was in "Bad Boy" when the stereotypical "mad scientist" elements of Drakken's personality were accidentally transferred into him, causing him to temporarily become a costumed "Mad scientist/Evil genius" type super villain named Zorpox the Conquerer. As Zorpox, Ron created a series of increasingly sophisticated weapons, ranging from a mechanical device to fling mashed potatoes to an all terrain plasma catapult and a weather generator capable of instantly controlling the weather at a global scale. Although these changes and this depth appear regulary throughout the franchise, they do not appear in every episode, and are not always consistent between episodes, however, some reappearances have indeed been made, such as his evil alter-ego "Zorpox". Non-Judgementalism. Ron has the unusual ability(especially for a High School student) of moving between different cliques and sicial groups without showing any undue prejudice of their various activities. Ron associates both with the most popular girls in school(Kim, Bonnie), as well as the most outcast nerds in Middleton(Larry, Ned). He accepts, and is accepted by, people as diverse as Monique(a black girl), Wade(a super-genius shut-in), Zita(a hispanic girl), Felix(wheelchair-bound genius), and of course Kim. He interacts with football players, role-playing nerds, cheerleaders, geniuses, slackers, and everything in between on a regular basis, and never appears to judge them or their activities as more or less worthy. He is untimidated by super-villains who are theoretically smarter and/or more powerful than himself(although sometimes frightened, of course). He is baffled by Kim's insistence on buying her clothes at Club Banana, even though she could get the exact same clothes at Smarty-Mart for a fraction of the cost(and Smarty-Mart and Club Banana are owned by the same company). In short, Ron moves through and among all different groups easily, allowing their occasional ridicule to(usually) roll off him. This ability gives Kim a useful reality check in certain situations. The Ron Factor. The Ron Factor is an intangible talent/element that Ron was hypothesizen to possess. It supposendly allowed him to achieve results through a series of apparently random mishaps that would otherwise require great skill or an impossible amount of skill to accomplish. According to Wade, The Ron Factor may be a product of non-linear mathematical concepts(also known as Chaos Theory). Initially, Global Justice believed The Ron Factor was the secret to Team Possible's success and they researched it heavily for a short period, hoping to be able to harness it themselves. However since they were unable to isolate it, GJ eventually concluded that it did not exist. Independently of the conclusion from GJ, The Ron Factor was later revisited as a plot element during the Kim Possible movie: "A Sitch in Time". Shego realized that Kim was most effective as an advesary when working side-by-side with Ron. She then hatches a plan to seperate them, thus severaly hampering Kim's ability to thwart her advesaries. This seperation weakened Team Possible sufficiently for Shego to be able to take over the world. Mystical Monkey Powers. During the Season 1 episode "Monkey Fist Strikes", Ron was exposed to mystical energy from 4 jade monkey statueswhich imbued him with "mystical monkey powers", including an instinctive knowledge of the martial arts of "Tai Sheng Pek Kwar"(translated to "The big saint divides hangs") as well as superhuman speed and strength. It was initially implied that Ron lost these powers when the jade monkey statues were destroyed and they played no further part in Season 1(even during other Monkey Fist related episodes). However, they were revisited half way through Season 2, during the episode "Exchange", when Ron was temporarily transferred to the Yamanouchi ninja school in Japan. While at Yamanouchi, Ron was trained as a ninja and displayed several "bursts" of monkey power throughout the episode but was unable to control them most of the time. He was also introduced to the Lotus Blade, a shape shifting swordused by Toshimiru, the founder of the Yamanouchi ninja school, who was also a master of Tai Sheng Pek Kwar(a bit of a mistake on the part of the writers by setting it in Japan, Tai Sheng Pek Kwar is a Chinese martial art, not Japanese). Although Ron was shown to be able to control the blade, his usual clumsiness was still shown as well as several comical moments such as losing his clothes when successfully calling the blade to him. In addition, Ron defeated traitorous Yamanouchi student Fukushima by jumping on the ground and causing a small earthquake that caused icicles to fall and trap his foe. Considering it showed rocks levitating around around him at the time Ron most likely did this with his Mystical Monkey Powers. In a seperate incident, Ron was prophesied to be "The Supreme Monkey Master". In "A Sitch in Time", he single-handedly defeated a super-strong Drakken and destroyed the Time Monkey by causing a series of pillars to topple like dominoes. Considering that Kim could not defeat the genetically-enhanced Drakken on her own, his great anger at that time likely caused him to tap into his Mystical Monkey Powers and use his super-strength from that to defeat Drakken and Shego. After the end of "Exchange" Ron's monkey powers were not explicitly shown again for a while. The show even made a self-referential comment about this, during a fight, Ron's opponent is surprised by his terrible performance, believing Ron is supposed to possess some sort of mystical superpower. Ron sheepishly replies that "it comes and goes, y'known". Ron's Monkey power are more regular and more reliable in the franchises game adaptions, including Team Possible, where Ron gains access to monkey power after defeating Monkey Fist. The Mystical Monkey Power storyline picked up again in Oh No! Yono!, with the revelation of the backstory of Hana Stoppable and the final encounter between Ron and Monkey Fist. During the final two-part episode, Graduation, Ron's Mystical Monkey Powers sprung into very powerful being when he single-handedly confronted, fought and defeated the nine foot tall alien duo of Warmonga and Warhok, with no help from Kim. After Warhok made the very serious mistake of threatening Kim's life in Ron's presence, Sensei appeared to encourage him to summon his Mystical Monkey Powers. He revealed that Ron is the Supreme Monkey Master(ironic for someone who once had such an extreme fear of monkeys) and that this(presumably being the Supreme Monkey Master) was his destiny that he is now ready for. With Shego and Kim unconsious, Kim's life being threatened , and no chance of anyone else saving the day, Ron consciously tapped into his Mystical Monkey Powers, another indication that Ron's failures and clumsiness stem more from his insecurities and self-doubt than lack of ability, and that he would prove much more capable if he was able to work past them. Upon it's manifestation, Ron's strength was nearly infinite. He was seen to grap both aliens by their wrists and launch them well over half a mile into the air, before they impacted with their crashing spaceship, presumably destroying them. Needless to say, this surprised those around him, including Kim, Shego, and Rufus. This action caused Kim, for the first(and presumably the last) time in the series, to be lost for speech. Even Shego was completely impressed, saying that it looked like Ron "stepped up, monkey style". This was the first time in the series that Ron had complete control over his powers and he can now presumably access them whenever he wants. Category:Characters Category:Stoppables Category:Heroes Category:MHS Students